Tallow, amongst other ingredients found in nature. A book of recipes and information for all facets of life, written by Dr. A.W. Chase, MD in 1866, lists ten formulations of salve, eight of which contain tallow, in addition to other natural ingredients.

Currently, there are virtually no skin care products available that are made with animal fats. Interestingly, they disappeared at the same time that animal fats in our diets did. Among the animal fats used for skin care, it appeared that the one used most overwhelmingly was indeed tallow. Tallow is the rendered fat of cows, sheep, and other ruminant animals such as deer. It is very solid and waxy at room temperature and can be kept for extended periods without the need for refrigeration. Rendering is the process of gently heating the interior fat tissue, called “suet”, causing the pure oils to melt away from the rest of the tissue. Tallow was usually mixed with various other substances directly from nature to form a spreadable skin balm. Further research shows that modern science supports this traditional use of tallow as a principal ingredient of skin care recipes.

No plant-based skin care ingredient or product can remotely compare to tallow in its power to nourish and heal the skin. From biology, we know that the cell membrane is made up primarily of fatty acids, a double layer, to be exact. Saturated fats constitute at least 50 percent of the cell membrane. As Sally Fallon Morell explains in her book Nourishing Traditions, since saturated fats tend to be more solid than unsaturated fats at a given temperature, they help give the cell membrane its necessary stiffness and integrity for proper function. The monounsaturated fats, while not as “solid” as the saturated fats, are more so than the polyunsaturated fats which are also present in the cell membrane in their own proper proportion, although the modern diet leads to a disproportionate amount of the polyunsaturates. Healthy, “toned” skin cells with sufficient saturated and monounsaturated fats would undoubtedly make for healthy, toned skin. Interestingly, tallow fat is typically 50 to 55 percent saturated, just like our cell membranes, with almost all of the rest being monounsaturated, so it makes sense that it would be helpful for skin health and compatible with our cell biology.

Another strong indication of tallow’s compatibility with our skin biology is its similarity to sebum, the oily, waxy matter that lubricates and waterproofs our skin. Indeed, the word “sebum” actually means “tallow” in Latin and began to be used in this biological sense around the year 1700. William D. James MD explains that the sebaceous glands, which secrete sebum, are found in greatest abundance on the face and scalp, but they are distributed over all of our skin except on the palms and soles. Cheung Russel’s research reveals that sebum is made up of lipids (fats) of which 41 percent are in the form of triglyderides, and the lipids of tallow are principally in the form of triglycerides, which is how fatty acids are usually configured in nature.

Tallow is compatible with our skin biology and is readily absorbed by the skin. In regard to the compatibility of tallow with the biology of our skin, we should note that we are animals rather than plants, so the modern taboo against animal products in skin care products would seem unfounded and even illogical. In addition to containing very little saturated fats, plant products do not have the same levels of other nutrients needed for healthy skin. Tallow contains the abundant natural fat-soluble activators, vitamins A, D, and K, as well as vitamin E, which are found only in animal fats and which are all necessary for general health and for skin health.